DUN Sarawak: The school's medals incentive is permanent

KUCHING, 20 Oct: The Sarawak Government maintains a winning incentive rate for the medal-winning athletes at Sukan Malaysia (SUKMA), RM15,000 for gold, RM5,000 (silver) and RM3,000 (bronze) respectively.

Sarawak's Minister of Youth, Sports and Entrepreneurship Development, Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said the incentives would be rolled out before the end of this year, with November being targeted if payment deals could be resolved.

"The figures are maintained based on the same calculation methods as when SUKMA was held in Sarawak earlier.

"The total amount of incentives depends on a set calculation formula and not automatically awarded to each athlete in a team.

He said this at a press conference after delivering his cabinet resignation speech at the 19th Sarawak State Assembly (DUN) Conference today.

According to him, the additional incentive allocation involves funds in excess of RM1 million.

In addition, the same incentive rate was also given to SUKMA athletes and Para SUKMAs as a result of agreement with Sarawak Minister for Women, Children and Community Welfare, Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah.

In related developments, he said, sports associations that failed to show satisfactory performance should reassess their management including association leadership.

"The president of the association who has been in office for 10 years but still fails to achieve performance is expected to consider their position.

"While the election of leadership is conducted democratically through an annual general meeting (AGM) or a triennial general meeting (TGM), the association's ability to improve sports performance should also be considered.

"Associations that don't show performance, we won't meet their demands. They need to know their own position and assess their own performance", he said.